2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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KNOWLEDGE "The decisive question for man is: Is he related to the infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interests upon futilities and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance". Carl Jung *** Knowledge as applied to Magick is very different than conventional knowledge. In a rapidly expanding scientific age where computers are things anyone can own; the word "knowledge" has come to mean "having information". This is very different when it comes to the Magical Art. Today's "Magician" behaves as though some one has unscrewed the top of their head and vomited into it Regardie's "Complete Magical System of the Golden Dawn" and Crowley's "Magick in Theory and Practice". Rather than using the superb instruction offered by such books in order to gain mastery over ritual, the student repeats what he reads, but is unable to contribute anything new. Knowledge, to a real Magician, is experience. I have said elsewhere that one cannot "know" what an apple tastes like despite another's efforts to describe it to them. The advantage to having Knowledge of a particular subject is that the response from a particular action is somewhat predictable. A dabbler may have a lot of information about Magick, and talk a great deal about their make-believe successes, but only the Magician will have enough Knowledge to determine the outcome of any specific ritual. Like children; We learn by doing. Knowledge outlasts time. Information is being constantly replaced by updated information, it has no endurance. Strive therefore, to experience all things rather than collect information. Gathering information is for those who, because of their fear of death, experience life through the eyes of brave men. *** COURAGE "Courage means being afraid and saddling up anyway." John Wayne *** Perhaps the biggest pitfall of magicians is the aspect of fear. Fear manifests itself from lack of Knowledge. Anything not understood can create a feeling of fear towards a subject, idea, or object. This is because the mind tries to anticipate all which could potentially go wrong from the experience of the subject by calling up all information related to the experience. If there is insufficient information a fear of the unknown manifests. This fear can interfere with your work by making you feel incompetent, thus persuading you to abandon the Work. The most dangerous fear is created by things which are half understood. When your mind calls up the data associated with the experience it comes up with a few bits and pieces of "self manufactured" preconceptions created by what little and incomplete information one may retain in consciousness. While the following illustration may be somewhat crude it serves in making a point: Take the child who touches the stove and is burned. If he or she is not instructed that ovens aren't always hot, or in the proper behavior around hot appliances, it then becomes possible that the child, upon growing up, will have some distorted image of ovens the rest of his or her life. The fear created by this process will prevent them from discovering a sane method by which to utilize these appliances. Fear is a built-in safety device which keeps us from repeating mistakes, but when it dominates what we think and do based on preconception it has become our master. This is why it is so important to finish the Work you have started. If you leave anything half-finished it will only be half-understood, leaving the phantasm in your mind with the grim chore of finishing it for you...In any way it can. *** LOVE "Love is a God; Strong, free, unabounded, and as some define Fears nothing, pitieth none". Milton *** Love is one of the trickiest things to talk about because the word has had so much untruth pumped into it. The underlying essence of real Love is unconditional. You cannot Love one thing and not love another. The delusion that you can separate yourself from any other thing is created by the ego; using lust of result, bigotry, or a false pride as its weapons. This kind of love usually hurts or wounds, and when we feel the prick of its thorn many of us learn to shut ourselves up to authentic Love. Our hearts harden like tempered steel. Every time we confuse love with Love we become a little more calloused and resistant. This may happen to such an extreme that when Love comes our way it is confused with the lesser love and not allowed to find its true palace within our heart. A very perceptive man once said that the only kind of falling which is not failing is falling in Love. The kind of Love referred to in conjunction with Magick is, for the most part; unknown to most people. When one's life is being lived to its fullest potential, and all the little ordeals which come our way when we stray from our path have disappeared, that's when we are likely to experience Love. It manifests itself as "Gold". Everything you look at suddenly has a Golden Aura around it. There is a feeling of excitement and rediscovery. The things you took for granted have suddenly changed. They must be reexperienced under this new Light. One is likely to experience new found trust and hope in people because you are able to recognize the deity within them. Everything is possible now. You have become as a child. Love is Unity. Meditation is impossible without it. Every time that we attempt to fully experience another object we must unite with it. Without the ability to Love we cannot. When dealing with other people this could, and usually does, manifests in sex. Sex can be the Highest Sacrament, but it must be brought from a Nephesh (animal consciousness) level to a level of Nashama (Highest Aspirations of the Soul). This is only possible if the act is being motivated by the Unifying factor within Love. Being able to Unite with object and subject is only a small step into the countless possibilities of the experiences dealing with Love. When you have mastered Love you will have completely united with it, so that it burns and communicates to others through you. You will then have harnessed that Mysterious Energy which turns Lead into Gold. In those scarce times when two people feel pure, unadulterated Love for each other, an astral bond is created. Often psychic phenomena may be experienced as an inner rapport is created between individuals. "Love is the law, love under will": One of the many Mysteries of this Law is to Love all creation, by so doing the Magician will develop an astral connection with the whole of the Cosmos. All in all, Love is a rare commodity in this world. It doesn't come often. When it does we should be prepared to recognize it. If you are fortunate enough to find someone to Love, consider what a privilege it is that this person has found you worthy of sharing their Universe; respect them, recognize their right to be themselves, to be free-thinking individuals, and then embrace them as loosely as you can. *** SILENCE "Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods". Emerson *** Of the Four Magical Powers, Silence is perhaps one of the most important. It can, in fact; prevent some very painful situations in your life. The previous Aeon has left a very dangerous kind of poison in the "group mind" of the Western Civilization. We have only to look at history to realize that everything of value which the Holy Books had to offer was altered by those of in authority in order to make slaves of the simple man. The "Church" has been in power so long, and the scriptures inaccurate for so many generations, that even its leaders are in the dark as to the True meaning of their manual. Conventional Religions indoctrinate that all one must do to is believe. One is not to question the Scriptures. This was done to prevent free thinking, and as a result the masses have become gullible, lazy, and easily controlled by those in power. To find Truth in anything one must have a thirst for Knowledge; one must question all things. It takes a lot of hard Work. Western Religion with its dogma has created a breed of humans who do not question the motives of those in authority and are too lazy to seek Truth for themselves. They believe anything their superiors tell them because their superiors appear to have done the work they have avoided. What does this have to do with Silence? Study the history of the "Church" and you will see how many innocent people have been tortured and killed simply because they would not submit their will to them. How many cultures has it completely erased by "making good Christians out of savages"? How many battles were fought in the name of the "Church" where good people were lost on both sides just to satisfy the lust for power and money? It has even prosecuted its own people for questioning its motives. By keeping your Work secret it is charged Magically and it is made sacred. When Ancient Egyptian Adepts inherited the name of a Spirit or God he zealously kept it from the profane, for by uttering the name the forces inherent in them were summoned. Besides consecrating your Work, Silence reduces the chances of your operations being interfered with by those who are not sympathetic to Magick. Do not allow doubt to enter into your Work because you have allowed others to interfere. TEST ALL THINGS AND HOLD FAST TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD. Enough said about ignorance and pestilence. There are other reasons why Silence is so important to Magical Work. We all know people who talk a great deal, but do nothing. It would appear that talking about it brings some people more satisfaction than actually doing it. It requires the same amount of energy (different type but same proportion) to talk about something and to actually do it. You can talk away your enthusiasm in a project so that when it comes down to "grounding" it you have none. To explain this further we have to study how thought is filtered from the Archetypal Plane to the Material Plane. All truly great ideas believed to be inspired by genius are in fact "sparks of the Divine". One who is adept in channeling such ideas has mastered the methods by which one tunes in to that plane. These "sparks" come from the Archetypal Plane. These archetypes, being by nature so abstract, are beyond understanding in the intellectual sense. The "spark" must go through a process of solidification and materialization, just as a fertilized egg does before being transformed into a fetus. The spark descends downwards to the Creative Plane. This is the womb where all great thoughts are conceived. There it stays for a period of time until it is transformed into a symbol. Once the Creative Plane has matured this symbol, it flows down to the Formative Plane. When it has reached this step, and not before, is when one first realizes that there is something going on in their mind that demands attention. Although it may still be a little rough, the idea is realized. It must be shaped and prepared so that it can be brought down even further and manifested in material form on the Material Plane. The problems begin as soon as one becomes aware of the activity going on in their mind. It is easy to gratify one's sense of ego by boasting their still unmanifested project until the continuity between the Higher and Lower Planes is disrupted. The link becomes weak, and the concept is aborted. Silence is very important indeed in Magical Work. To further illustrate the importance of Silence I include this bit of information: Research done by marriage counselors showed that couples who only thought of the carnal aspects of lovemaking had no problem talking about it with others. Those couples who respected their partners and thought of their love making as special; would not talk about it with their counselors. They had made their lovemaking sacred. We show this kind of Devotion with our Work. Don't kiss and tell & do not throw your pearls before swine. --END--